JJoy
John Refalo in art JJoy is Malta's top DJ with a career that dates back to 1997. Starting from his youth JJoy always had a love for music playing in school bands and organizing small parties for his friends. After the school band came JJoy's first set of decks and JJoy spent hours daily learning the art of mixing and within one year JJoy soon found himself spinning at a couple of local clubs and bars were he caught the attention of Daniel Reginiano who was at time organizing a party in collaboration with Planetcom (organizers of the massive Berlin Loveparade) and choose JJoy to be the official resident for his parties called JOY (now operated and owned by J Joy's Rype and Real Muzik).The first Joy party took place on the 28th June 1997 at the Westin Reef Club and saw JJoy rock 6000 punters with an impressive 4hr set blending electro/house/trance and techno in such an amazing way,nearly every local promoter and club owner also attended this Joy party and were very impressed by JJoy's talent and so bookings for every single local event and club then followed.JJoy soon found himself on top line ups locally and worldwide with big names like Faithless,Snoop Dog,Flo-Rida,Hardwell, Dimtri Vegas&Like Mike, LMFAO,Rudemental, Afrojack, Rehab, Calvin Harris, La Roux, David Guetta, Kelis, Kid Rock, Lady Gaga, Kosheen , Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyke, Deep Dish, Timo Mass, Marco V, Westbam , John Digweed , Sasha, Nick Warren, Dave Clarke, Sven Vath , X-Press 2, Miss Kittin , DJ Hell, Felix Da Housecat, Eric Morillo, Tall Paul, James Holden, Tilt, Seb Fontaine, Eric Prydz, Mauro Picotto, Armin Van Buuren, Roger Sanchez, Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell, Umek, Marcus Schulz and so many more, either warming up or playing peak time sets JJoy's technical ability to blend a crossover of electro house to progressive trance and techno has always been noted to provide an amazing interaction between him and any crowd gaining high publicity on local and foreign media.J Joy has also played at Festivals locally and overseas with Cream, The Ministry of Sound,Loveparade, Gatecrasher, Godskitchen, Seven Sins and The Isle of MTV not to forget regular appearances at clubs like the Honeyclub and The Ministry of Sound in U.K, Eden and Es Paradis in Ibiza and The Castle Club in Ayia Napa Cyprus.JJoy also boasts a fine array of awards including Best Newcomer (1997), Malta's No1 DJ (1999), Best Personality (2000), Malta's Most wanted DJ(2001), Malta's Most Successful DJ (2002), Malta's Best Trance DJ(2003), Malta's Best DJ (2004), Malta's Best Trance DJ (2004), Malta’s Trance DJ (2005),Malta’s No 1 DJ 2006(The DJList.com), Gozo’s Best DJ 2006(Sole Music Awards)Best Dance Tune 2006(BMA’S) and Best Dance Tune 2007(BMA’S), Best Dance Tune 2011(BMA'S), Best Dance Tune 2012(BMA’s), Best Dance Tune 2013(BMA’s).J Joy also hosted one of the islands top and most requested dance shows J Joy's Joyride which started off in 1997 till 1998 on Live FM, 1998 till 2000 on Radio 101, 2000 till 2002 on Island Sound, in 2002 J Joy moved Joyride to 897 BAY until November 2008 when he then moved to XFM 100.2 with a new direction for his radio show headlining Saturday night with the most popular dance show from 8-10pm and re naming the show Real Muzik, after XFM JJoy has changed his show into a short mix every Friday on Vibe FM from 5.20pm till 5.40Pm until August 2011 where he re-joined 89.7 Bay Radio for his Thursday night show which was then later moved to Saturday Night as the headlining dance show on the Maltese Islands with worldwide listeners, the show is also aired on Castle Club Radio every Saturday Night.J Joy has also had regular appearances on MTV Europe where J Joy has been seen spinning on MTV's The Fridge with Neil Cole and co-hosting MTV's dance-floor chart with Mimi-K and Becky Griffin, in 2004& 2005 J Joy also hosted the MTV Malta summer-dance party and has been asked to host the event again in 2007. Rype and Real Muzik are also part of the J Joy legacy being the names of his official event production and promotion and also his record labels, when it comes to organizing and promoting quality events JJoy and his promotion are known for offering some of the best events on the Maltese Islands with attendances that have seen over 4500 clubbers at many of their events including Joy Classix and Joy Anthems, J Joy is also known to be the first and only local DJ to organize 2 events simultaneously on two separate islands-Malta and Gozo which saw two sell out parties on the same night with Joy playing 3 hr sets at both events and also the first and only local dj to successfully organize a 2 day event, the Joy Classix Weekend party, 2008 and 2009 proved to be yet another great year for Joy Events seeing them rock clubs to the maximum across the Maltese Islands not to forget JJoy made history for the local club scene being the first ever DJ to do his own Live in Concert event which was a major success whilst in 2010 and 2011, 2012, 2013 saw JJoy’s events carried on their steady pace and also saw JJoy to be the first local DJ to take his Joy Brand across shores organizing Joy at the Castle Club Ayia Napa Cyprus plus keeping his name sky high on the Maltese Islands with his events.When it comes to productions JJoy is definitely making a good name for himself blending in various elements of dance music finalizing a crisp sound which is well noticed in his collaboration track with world renowned vocalist Jan Johnston called ‘ Rush’ which received heavy support by some of the world’s biggest names and has recently been signed to Coldharbour Recordings a division of the famous Armada Group, his debut single with Kirsty Hawkshaw ‘love is no possession’ which got signed off to Loverush Digital received strong support by some of the world’s biggest djs, not to mention it was placed in the World DMC Buzz Chart and Music Week Charts for weeks, when producing on a harder note JJoy’s track ‘Urban Jungle’ due for release in February 2011 and has also been licensed to Greg Downey’s ‘Live As’ compilation recorded Live in Ireland released on Discover recordings and is also described by John Askew as a tech trance monster and a must have tune, in 2009 JJoy’s vocal hit ‘Me to you’ with Marcella Woods was released on Loverush Digital and had good success in various charts and playlisted by many big names.In 2011 JJoy released 'King of the Night' on Loverush Global and Real Muzik alongside MC Marshall and this track was playlisted by some of the worlds biggest names not to forget it one Best Dance Tune on the Maltese Islands at the Bay Music Awards2012 once again saw Joy winning Best Dance Tune 2012 with ' Love Hangover' and kept the track as a free download for his fans, 2013 was another good year seeing JJoy collab with one of the best vocalists in EDM Christina Novelli with ‘Loving you’ which also won the Best Dance Tune 2013 at the BMA’s and is out now on Amsterdam Trance Recordings , 2014 has seen JJoy excel to a number of international shows around the globe alongside some of the World’s biggest DJs, his recent performance at the Electronic Festival in Aruba has alos opened a number of new doors for a stronghold of shows for 2015 with his Joy Night also busy in over 5 countries every month, in the studio JJoy has just finished a huge EDM track called ‘Tornado’ set for release on CR2 Records and 2015 will see quite a number of big tunes coming your way with some of the world’s biggest vocalists, the story continues. Releases Upcoming/Unreleased Music Category:DJs Category:Producers Category:Maltese Producer Category:Maltese DJ